OUR chief sports writer grills the Ibrox shareholder about the club's perilous financial state and how the will get through their current predicament.

But, here in the second part of an exclusive Q&A with Chief Sports Writer Keith Jackson, the chairman of the football board insists fans who blame him for the gathering crisis should be thanking him instead.

Easdale spoke out after it was revealed that chief executive Graham Wallace won’t be investing in this month’s emergency £4m share issue.

KJ: For a company trying to raise £4m isn’t it damaging that your own chief executive is unwilling to invest?

SE: It looks worse than it is. He never had any shares so he’s not entitled to invest in this issue. I don’t know the reason why he hasn’t bought any. You’d need to ask him.

KJ: Isn’t he meant to be driving this bus?

SE: Is that a pun? Look, I’ve never really thought about it. I do what I’m doing. Whatever Graham’s intentions are they are up to him.

KJ: So what are your intentions?

SE: I will hold my own corner and, if there are enough shares left, hopefully oversubscribe in this issue.

SE: We inherited a black hole the day we took over. A lot of it has been on the cards. The final straw has been the amount of fans and hospitality not turning up. We can’t make the numbers work. So we brought the share issue forward. We wanted to do a share issue in the new year, going into the Premiership – touch wood.

KJ: So the fans should have done more? Is that what you are saying?

SE: It’s disappointing that we’ve not got their support. I feel we deserve a bit of support because of what we inherited. Considering that baggage, we’re going forward at a good rate with a good business plan. Obviously that plan has been interrupted by the lack of people coming to the games.

KJ: But you can’t be shocked that Rangers supporters don’t trust this regime – or even yourself?

SE: I’m shocked because of my level of input. People talk about George Letham’s £1m loan but I have put in £500,000 interest free. I have never once asked for it back and I’ll leave it as long as the club needs the cashflow.

The guy Letham, fair enough, he brought the interest rate down but he’s still getting an amount of interest while I’m doing it for free. He’ll also get his money back sooner than myself. I’m willing to leave it in if I have to. But I don’t get any recognition for that at all. Me and my brother don’t take a salary. I have bought shares and plan to buy more. I have loaned the club money for free. I’m working for free. I don’t know what more I can do.

KJ: But you understand Charles Green is toxic and you were his guy?

SE: Well, you could say that but what about investors like Artemis and Laxey? They came in under Charles Green. Are they his boys also?

SE: Yeah, and that’s the hardest job at the moment. I can see where people come from but all I can say is I’m my own man and I don’t have anyone telling me what to do. If you thought I had all this support behind me then why are they not doing something about the situation we are in then?

KJ: But you hold the proxy for Blue Pitch and Margarita and they are as toxic as Green...

SE: Yes, which is unfair as they have never done anything apart from put money into the club. So that’s harsh.

KJ: But Blue Pitch and Margarita got their money back. The accusation is that Rangers is a gravy train and these people have clambered on board to fill their pockets.

SE: That might be the perception but Blue Pitch and Margarita haven’t received any money form the club, directly or indirectly. The only people who have had money are those on salaries and obviously bonuses which were in people’s contracts.

That was all before I came along. I don’t receive any money. That’s all I can say.

KJ: Graham Wallace promised to end this bonus culture. And yet he’s entitled to a £300,000 bonus?

SE: I could say ‘that’s a PLC decision’ so it’s above the board I am on. But in fairness to Graham and CEO’s of his level, this is something in the format of their pay. We may not like it but when you go for guys of Graham’s calibre most will have a bonus attached to their wages.

KJ: But you need £4m to keep the doors open and yet the CEO of a company performing so horribly is on the verge of £300,000 bonus?

SE: You’re right. It’s hard to explain. It’s not something I want to comment on because he is the CEO and reports to the PLC board more than myself. For me to express an opinion would be wrong and there is little autonomy I have over Graham’s contract as I am on a different board.

KJ: OK, so what would you say to those – myself included – who believe the PLC board is pretty powerless? And that YOUR ‘football board’ controls the club?

SE: That’s inaccurate. The PLC board has autonomy over the football club. Any decisions that the football board makes, the PLC board can overturn.

KJ: But Walter Smith famously said he lost more votes in the boardroom than he did games on the park. He said he was chairman of a board which was powerless...

SE: I can’t comment on what Walter experienced because I wasn’t there at the time. I don’t know who was on the football board at the time. I can’t speak for Walter but I imagine it was a strange experience for him and, being the gentleman that he is, I don’t think he wanted to be there when it wasn’t working.

KJ: You must be able to feel the level of anxiety growing. How dire is the Rangers situation?

SE: Yes, I do feel it. As you say, it’s realistic because the club must raise funds to go forward. If we don’t then we’ll have to look at cutting the expenditure even more.

I would say, everybody has to support the club. We keep on hearing about fans who aren’t coming because of the board or the football but the reality is there’s a lot of diverse reasons. But if everybody is so passionate about the survival of the club then they have to come back, no matter their reasons.

I’m doing my best, supporting it with my money and time for free.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing for me to ask the supporters to come back and support the club even if they like the board or not. At the end of the day, it’s about the survival of the club not the survival of the board.

KJ: Do you regret getting involved?

SE: Everybody asks me that question. Some days I give different answers. But listen, I’ve done it now, I’m a big boy and you take it on the chin and move on.

What I don’t enjoy is the massive amount of criticism from people who don’t give me any credit for the good things I have done – not taking a wage, ploughing my own money in, buying more shares...

KJ: So what the hell are you doing it for?

SE: There is a sense of duty there. We’ve started something we have to carry on with.

If you’re halfway across the English Channel do you keep on going until you get to France or do you turn back?